Parental knowledge about antibiotic use: results of a cluster-randomized, multicommunity intervention
Pediatrics. 2007 Apr
Huang SS,
Rifas-Shiman SL,
Kleinman K,
Kotch J,
Schiff N,
Stille CJ,
Steingard R,
Finkelstein JA.
Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, 133 Brookline Ave, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02215. sshuang@partners.org.
OBJECTIVE. The goal was to determine the impact of a community-wide educational intervention on parental misconceptions likely contributing to pediatric antibiotic overprescribing.
METHODS. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial of a 3-year, community-wide, educational intervention directed at parents of children <6>
RESULTS. There were 1106 (46%) and 2071 (40%) respondents to the 2000 and 2003 surveys, respectively. Between 2000 and 2003, the proportion of parents who answered >/=7 of 10 knowledge questions correctly increased significantly in both intervention (from 52% to 64%) and control (from 54% to 61%) communities. We did not detect a significant intervention impact on knowledge regarding appropriate antibiotic use in the population overall. In a subanalysis, we did observe a significant intervention effect among parents of Medicaid-insured children, who began with lower baseline knowledge scores.
CONCLUSIONS. Although knowledge regarding appropriate use of antibiotics is improving without additional targeted intervention among more socially advantaged populations, parents of Medicaid-insured children may benefit from educational interventions to promote judicious antibiotic use. These findings may have implications for other health education campaigns.
PMID: 17403840 [PubMed - in process]
